


A Series of Steps

by Merfilly



Category: Smallville
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-11
Updated: 2011-11-11
Packaged: 2018-01-14 01:59:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 894
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1248448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Clark, Bruce, and Lex... and manipulations.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Series of Steps

Bruce Wayne had never expected to come to Smallville, home territory of a Luthor, and find a connection unlike any he dreamed of. From their introduction at a town meeting where Bruce told the local farmer's association that he was wanting to invest in their farms to the night Clark Kent quite impossibly saved him as he was trying to break into Luthor's laboratories, Bruce had been intrigued.

They had traded secrets that night, but the more Bruce looked around the little town and its hidden oddities, the more he felt Clark was still hiding. Bruce wanted to know everything.

`~`~`~`~`

 

"Why do you need to know so much?" Clark asked.

"Because secrets can cause complications," Bruce told him.

"You won't like knowing," the younger man said firmly, fear sparking in his eyes.

"Clark, you are who you are, no matter what demons haunt you." How well Bruce had learned this lesson, facing himself in his trials and journey to become the shadow of the night.

Clark looked at Bruce, jaw tight with stubbornness, but Bruce's eyes broke through to him.

Clark sat to tell Bruce just what Jor-El had laid out as his destiny, a weight lifting from him.

`~`~`~`~`

As Bruce considered the story of Clark's destiny, as seen by Jor-El, he grew angry. Clark was gifted and had so much that he could help humanity with, but no one had any right at all to make demands on that future. Only Clark himself should shape what he would be in the end.

He looked at his lover, asleep now, and knew something they shared, because of how Clark had told the story.

Clark was as afraid of becoming a monster in the dark as Bruce himself was. Maybe together, neither of them would need to be afraid.

`~`~`~`~`

"Clark…" Lex's voice carried over the noise of traffic. Clark stopped, drawn to Lex even now that he had Bruce. "Your buddy with the bucks? He seems strongly interested in digging up things that have happened here."

"Bruce's just looking at life here for his investment model," Clark defended, meeting Lex's eyes defensively. 

"Funny how his research keeps hitting stories that you seem to be right in the middle of." Lex searched those younger eyes, then shrugged. "I think he's going after your secrets harder than anyone. When are you going to stonewall him like me?"

Clark had no answer.

`~`~`~`~`

Lex looked at the innocuous sliver of silver metal. His supplier had been specific on use. All he had to do was infect the mystery man who was sabotaging his efforts at the plant to study the meteor rock, and his problems would all be solved. Luckily, the video showed him that the culprit always entered by the same door. 

Whatever was in the metal would be studied, as Lex had shaved a sample off for his scientists. The rest… 

Lex planned a nasty trap for his visitor, one that would leave a lasting mark, if his supplier was correct.

`~`~`~`~`

Bruce held Clark up, still surprised the other had fallen. "Clark?"

Clark looked up with anger in his eyes. "Let go!" 

Bruce could not have resisted Clark's pull and did not intend to dislocate his shoulders trying, so he released the younger man. "Clark, what's wrong?" he asked in a harsh whisper. 

Clark only leapt away, leaving Bruce to realize he had to find some way to help his friend and lover. The Kryptonian needed to be saved, and Bruce realized he did not know how.

He did know where to go for answers, though, remembering where Jor-El was.

`~`~`~`~`

Bruce felt like he was a different man, exiting the caves. He had a clear sense of direction though, as Jor-El had deigned to fill him in on things Clark had been incapable of telling him.

Something was tampering with time, introducing a strain of kryptonite that should not exist here and now, one that induced paranoia. Jor-El was willing to grant Bruce the knowledge of how to fix the matter, with a warning.

Bruce had to reach Clark before Lex Luthor did, because Jor-El suspected the manipulation was all intended to bring Clark to Lex's side.

`~`~`~`~`

Bruce hated guns. They reeked of power in the wrong hands. Then again, how could he ever see it as less than that, when the mere outline of one made him flash back to pearls stained in a crimson pool?

However, he had need, a need that outweighed his distaste. Clark had to be stopped and cured of his dementia, and there was only one thing that could weaken him long enough for Bruce to remove the malignant influence in his body.

"Forgive me this, Clark." His finger tensed on the trigger, bringing his lover down to earth for salvation.

`~`~`~`~`

Clark pushed up a little, recognizing the couch in Bruce's suite. He saw Bruce sitting in the chair, five o'clock shadow heavier than usual. Clark remembered just one, sharp crack of pain recently that…

"You shot me."

"With the meteor rock even," Bruce admitted. "I'd do it again if I had to."

So many ways to interpret that, and Clark realized he had found the one thing he needed most.

Someone who loved him enough to stop him.

"You're too far away."

Bruce got up and came to the couch, settling in front of it, head back on Clark's arm.


End file.
